True Love On The Side
by Gray Doll
Summary: When Teresa smiled, it could be either very kind or very forced. So she smiled. / OR Teresa has a boyfriend. Only he doesn't know it yet.


**True Love On The Side**

Teresa set her mug of coffee on the table and took a deep breath.

"I have a boyfriend now."

Her balding, middle-aged and certainly not attractive shrink gave her the adult-eyebrow-raise at that.

"Does he know that he's your boyfriend?"

The problem with being a budding liar was that no one ever looked at Teresa straight-on enough to see when she was telling the truth, when she was expanding the truth, or when the truth was off flying somewhere near the rafters. Of course, no one ever looked at her straight-on enough anyway, except when she was forced to dress up like a fluffball girly thing for parties and the boys that were not her brothers actually acknowledged her presence as a _female_.

She gave a small shrug. "He will."

* * *

Invisibility had its benefits. She'd put black pants, a black sweater and a black jacket on and moved through the halls like a ghost. Sometimes even the teachers forgot she was in class. Sometimes she was there, sometimes she wasn't.

Right now she wasn't.

"So, did you talk to her?" she asked her classmate that was sitting next to her.

He was biting his pen, looking out over the football field, wearing a leather jacket almost identical to her own. That day Teresa had half-expected him not to come to school at all, but apparently he dealt with their similar affliction differently than she did.

"Talked to who?"

There was no doubt he knew what she meant, but she decided to play along anyway.

"Lorelei," she snorted. "The girl all the bad boys want."

He gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, that's what she thinks. I know _I_ don't want her."

She arched her eyebrows and leaned forward, pressing her palms flat on the desk. "Wait, so you think you're one of the bad guys?"

"I try." He gave her a crooked smile and went back to biting his pen in that very irritating, very fascinating way of his. "No, I didn't talk to her. Why would I?"

When Teresa smiled, it could be either very kind or very forced. Because that's what her father did, and everyone kept telling her how much she looked like him. So she smiled. "No reason."

She remained silent for a moment, watching as he turned his gaze from the window to the professor who was slowly pacing up and down the small classroom, talking about something Teresa didn't want to make sense of.

"I need a favor," she whispered, and he set down his pen.

"I don't owe you anything," he said pointedly, his eyes still focused on the lecturing man now stopped beside his chair.

"Yes, I know, _I_ owe _you_. Now just listen, okay?"

That got his attention. People probably didn't admit debt to him very often, and it caught him off guard. Or at least that's what she thought.

"Okay," he said, shifting slightly in his seat. "I'm all ears."

She leaned closer to him, so that the sides of their faces were almost touching. "How do you feel about getting in a fight?"

When Russel Blythe smiled, it could be either very kind or very cruel.

* * *

Teresa didn't know if Russel was scared about this like she was. The day after, when Patrick looked at her she ducked behind the nearest person (she had told her shrink that the beautiful boy that was to become her boyfriend had kissed her, and he'd suggested that she might need medication).

Walter had said hi to her that morning, because Walter simply didn't know how to lie. Not that _she_ was an expert – but she tried. And if Russel's word was true, she was getting better and better by the day.

They walked side by side down the crowded hall until they reached her; as usual, she was checking her hair in the mirror she kept inside her locker.

She'd honestly never seen Russel and Lorelei together in the same area of the school before, so she didn't know who was scared more. She imagined it was Lorelei, just to make the next part of this easier.

"Looks like we found the uppity bitch."

Her first instinct was to reprimand herself, because she really didn't like profanities. But 'hey there, pretty coward, the invisible people want to talk to you' wouldn't have the effect she wanted. Which was that wonderful sort of shocked look on the other girl's face. And the subtle widening of Patrick's eyes.

Then everything happened in a flash.

God, she should have gotten into a catfight _years_ ago.

School policy was, no matter who started the fight, everyone involved in it got detention. Even if one of them was as pretty and popular as Lorelei. Even if one of them was as charming and intelligent as Patrick. Even if two of them were as insignificant to everyone as she and Russel.

Rules were really nifty like that sometimes.

* * *

Evening detention was a lot different than Saturday morning detention. The biology professor was heading it, for one. For another, the room was narrower, and smelled.

Her boyfriend who would soon find out was her boyfriend entered first.

"Hi," she greeted him, a small smile on her lips.

Patrick, for what seemed like the first time in years, looked truly confused. And that bruise under his left eye looked really painful.

"Teresa, what on earth was that for? Did you get bored again?"

She opened her mouth to say something hopefully clever, but that was when Lorelei stomped in, looking rather furious.

"What the _hell_ is your problem?"

It was a good thing that the evening detention teacher really didn't give a crap, or else all the yelling that was bound to happen might get them into _actual_ trouble. She rolled her eyes and turned around to look at Russel, who had his legs propped up on the desk before him and was twirling a small switchblade knife between his fingers.

He gave an almost imperceptible shrug in return to her smile, but the corners of his mouth did twist up a little when Lorelei made her way across the room with angry steps, tossed her bag on her desk and slumped down on her chair with a huff.

Teresa turned her gaze back to Patrick. He was relatively easier to read when only shadows were watching. Confusion, irritation, and then back to that cocky expression and the smile that could stop traffic in less than five seconds flat.

She heard movement behind her and whipped around. Russel had left his seat, having already pocketed his switch blade, and sat down next to Lorelei, who was ostentatiously ignoring him.

"What's wrong, Lo, someone pulled your hair?"

Teresa resisted the urge to laugh. Oh, she really _did_ owe him for that. And now that Lorelei's distraction was there, she could properly talk to Patrick. She hadn't been able to get her lipstick on right, but she'd remembered the eyeliner trick and had managed to steal one of her aunt's shirts for something that wasn't black.

She made her way to where he was sitting – while he was looking so cute and confused, she might as well sit on him. But of course she restrained herself. "Why didn't you call me?"

He blinked. "I don't even have your number."

"Oh, right. It's okay, I never answer my phone anyway." She bit down on her lip for a moment. "Do you think I look pretty at all?"

He stopped looking confused and then his face wasn't easy to read. As usual. But it did look pleasant. "You're really weird, you know that?"

She rolled her eyes. "I do. So can you be my boyfriend now? Since _you_ won't ask me out."

He blinked again, this time twice. She imagined that was how he always dealt with questions that took him off guard. Interesting. "Uh... what?"

But Russel had stopped distracting Lorelei, and they were both looking at the doorway. Maybe the teacher had come back. Teresa followed their gazes, and saw that it was just Walter.

The first time they had all been together like that was full of angst, and tragedy, and all sorts of crazy things like that. This time was different because even if they didn't know it, everyone had in fact chosen to be here. If Lorelei had pushed enough, she could have gotten out of something as trivial as after-school detention, and of course so could Patrick. Fights happened all the time, you had to do something that affected a lot of people to actually make waves.

Like blow up your locker and kill half of the school's population. Huh.

Maybe it was the way Walter had entered, or maybe it was the fact that Russel had an easy target again and Patrick now had back-up, and Lorelei had someone to talk to that wasn't Russel. Whatever it was, the tensions from before had broken up like someone had just pulled out some weed.

Russel grinned widely at Walter. "Oh, the dweebs are going to disown you, you're missing Physics Club!"

Patrick snickered at that one, but made no comment. In less than five minutes, they had all formed a circle on the murky floor, as if they were in elementary school again. And if Teresa stopped to think about it, maybe that sudden childlike behavior was what had allowed their guards to go down, if only briefly.

Russel's grin was still in place, and Walter was looking at him warily.

"But aren't you missing football practice? If not the dweebs, won't the jocks disown you?"

Walter sighed, quite melodramatically. "I'm actually in detention."

"Maybe you should quit your stupid clubs, then," Teresa said. Poor impulse control – that was the fancy term her shrink always used. Sometimes her voice caught in her throat, and sometimes it flew out of her mouth without her thinking about it.

Lorelei made a perfect little 'o' with her mouth, as though she was truly astonished, and pretended she hadn't just been holding Russel's hand.

Walter stared at her, and Russel merely raised an eyebrow.

Patrick laughed then, and everything went back to normal – at least for today.

* * *

"So, you wanted to be my girlfriend, right?"

Teresa tilted her head to the side. "No, I was just telling you that you were my boyfriend."

Patrick scuffed his sneaker on the grass, more for the sake of pretense than anything else. Boys and girls were always awkward with each other, at least from where she was sitting – and clearly he wanted to preserve that old custom.

How they'd gotten there, to where she would finally bat down impulse long enough to talk to him, she didn't know. But she could hear Walter chattering somewhere in the yard, most likely cutting in on Russel and Lorelei's makeout session just to ask them what on earth she and Patrick were talking about, without him.

She almost wanted to laugh at that.

Patrick sighed. "So... You want to go somewhere sometime?"

She bit her lip. "I want to go to the ocean. So let's go."

Teresa had never wanted to run away from something or someone so badly. Grueling home lives were one thing, and that was just enough to put the idea in her head. But as the moment Patrick hesitated drew out, she'd finally found her reason to run.

Her shrink would be proud, even if he was going to miss all the money from their next meetings. One could never have everything.

"Don't worry," she said, trying hard to keep the trembling out of her voice. "I get it. You're still not over Angela, it's okay. I got it. Really."

She _had_ really found her reason.

* * *

The last person she saw in Chicago before she left was Russel Blythe.

(Of course it was.)

She almost thought he was a homeless person, the way he blended in with the bus stop. She walked over to him, her fingers tightening around the straps of her satchel; she'd swiped the money from her father's wallet, and now she briefly wondered if he'd even notice.

When she finally reached his side, he opened his mouth to speak but she raised a hand to stop him.

"_Don't_." She wasn't quite sure what he was going to say, but she figured he would just try to warn her against running away. And she wouldn't have that.

He shook his head. "He doesn't know what he's missing."

When Teresa smiled, it could be either very kind or very forced. So she smiled. "Yeah, probably."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get into strangers' cars. And don't let anyone give you any pills or buy you drinks. They're probably going to want to kill you."

She laughed, and pulled him against her for a tight embrace. She was glad the last person she saw before she left Chicago almost understood why she was running away. Maybe it would all go to hell, eventually, but she had to do it. Before something in her withered and she got attached to things that couldn't stand on their own.

When they pulled apart, he leaned forward and gave her a soft peck on the lips.

She was caught between smirking and frowning. "I thought you had a girlfriend now."

"Nah, Lorelei will understand. And she won't even find out." He shrugged. "I just had to kiss you, at least once before you left."

She swallowed. "Thank you."

They stared at each other for several long seconds, before he broke the comfortable silence that had engulfed them.

"Did he reject you because of that Angela?"

She drew a long breath, and shut her eyes for a moment. "Look, it's okay. I understand him. I really do."

"Alright." When Russel Blythe smiled, it could be either very kind or very cruel.

She gave him a soft nudge. "Hey, Russel?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't end up dead."

"Same goes for you."

If there was ever a proper goodbye, that was probably it.

* * *

**Notes:** Yes, people. I was challenged by a friend of mine *coughEmmelinecough* to write a High School AU for a fandom of my choosing. Generally, I truly hate High School AU's, but I decided to give it a go because I'm never one to say no to challenges. But I tried to make it a bit... different. I honestly have no idea how this turned out, and I'm not very proud of it, but I hope it's not a total disaster. It'd be great to know what you think about it.


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